EvanL
07-08-2004, 10:49 AM
By CP
WINNIPEG -- A 25-year-old soldier was convicted of aggravated assault yesterday for a fight over a couple of girls that left an American college student comatose. Derick Lee Besaw, a private with the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, had his bail revoked while he awaits sentencing.
"This was a horrible crime," said Queen's Bench Justice Nathan Nurgitz. "The accused ... was involved in driving the victim's head into the wall."
Alex Ourada of Westbrook, Minnesota, spent two weeks in a coma following the March 2002 attack inside a downtown Winnipeg hotel.
Now 21, he still hasn't fully recovered and has major memory gaps and slight brain damage.
Ourada had come to Canada with five friends to take advantage of a lower drinking age in their celebration of spring break.
The Americans got together with Besaw and a friend at the hotel, but their gathering quickly turned sour when the Canadians started showing interest in two girls travelling with Ourada.
Winnipeg police initially speculated the violence may have partially been triggered by the Canadian hockey team's 5-2 gold-medal win over the Americans at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City weeks earlier.
Several of Ourada's friends testified Canada-U.S. relations were discussed, but not involving hockey. They said the main source of friction was the girls.
Mary Ellen Baskerville testified she saw Besaw smash Ourada's head against a wall, leaving a bloody stain.
Baskerville believes her friend was unconscious from hitting the wall and was unable to protect himself from what she described as a "stomping."
Besaw's friend and fellow soldier, Joe Elliott, told court Besaw was angry with Ourada and threatened him moments before the attack.
Elliott said he was surprised to see Besaw delivering four or five powerful stomps to the head and upper region of Ourada's body.
Ourada, a former high school wrestling champ and a freshman at Minnesota State University, was rushed to hospital and later airlifted to a hospital in South Dakota.
Crown attorney Brian Wilford said he will argue Besaw should receive a federal penitentiary term despite having no prior criminal record.
Wilford said the Crown will point to a recent decision by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in which a conditional sentence was replaced by four years in prison for a man who caused permanent brain damage to his victim.
Defence lawyer Grant Clay said he will seek a conditional sentence for Besaw.
WINNIPEG -- A 25-year-old soldier was convicted of aggravated assault yesterday for a fight over a couple of girls that left an American college student comatose. Derick Lee Besaw, a private with the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, had his bail revoked while he awaits sentencing.
"This was a horrible crime," said Queen's Bench Justice Nathan Nurgitz. "The accused ... was involved in driving the victim's head into the wall."
Alex Ourada of Westbrook, Minnesota, spent two weeks in a coma following the March 2002 attack inside a downtown Winnipeg hotel.
Now 21, he still hasn't fully recovered and has major memory gaps and slight brain damage.
Ourada had come to Canada with five friends to take advantage of a lower drinking age in their celebration of spring break.
The Americans got together with Besaw and a friend at the hotel, but their gathering quickly turned sour when the Canadians started showing interest in two girls travelling with Ourada.
Winnipeg police initially speculated the violence may have partially been triggered by the Canadian hockey team's 5-2 gold-medal win over the Americans at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City weeks earlier.
Several of Ourada's friends testified Canada-U.S. relations were discussed, but not involving hockey. They said the main source of friction was the girls.
Mary Ellen Baskerville testified she saw Besaw smash Ourada's head against a wall, leaving a bloody stain.
Baskerville believes her friend was unconscious from hitting the wall and was unable to protect himself from what she described as a "stomping."
Besaw's friend and fellow soldier, Joe Elliott, told court Besaw was angry with Ourada and threatened him moments before the attack.
Elliott said he was surprised to see Besaw delivering four or five powerful stomps to the head and upper region of Ourada's body.
Ourada, a former high school wrestling champ and a freshman at Minnesota State University, was rushed to hospital and later airlifted to a hospital in South Dakota.
Crown attorney Brian Wilford said he will argue Besaw should receive a federal penitentiary term despite having no prior criminal record.
Wilford said the Crown will point to a recent decision by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in which a conditional sentence was replaced by four years in prison for a man who caused permanent brain damage to his victim.
Defence lawyer Grant Clay said he will seek a conditional sentence for Besaw.